Péché Mortel (French for "Mortal Sin") is an intensely black and dense beer with very pronounced roasted flavours. Fair trade coffee is infused during the brewing process, intensifying the bitterness of the beer and giving it a powerful coffee taste. Péché mortel is brewed to be savored; we invite you to drink it in moderation.

This stout style, high in alcohol and bitterness in order to favour preservation, was historically brewed to support the long and arduous voyage necessary to export the beer from England to Russia. The word Imperial comes from the fact that the beer was specially brewed for the Russian tsar’s court.

Reviews by jakea:

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4/5 rDev -9.1%look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

11.5 oz. bottle poured into a NB globe (8 and 2 marked on the side)

A: Pitch black with a slight tan collar and minimal head.S: Sweet roast and malts. A ton of black coffee as well.T: Lots of black coffee with a tinge of sweetness from the roasted malt.M: Smooth and velvety.O: A great stout, but expensive at $10, nearly a $1 an ounce. At that price, you would think it would be BA. So many other stouts, that are more reasonably priced and just as good.

This is a 5. I can't find a thing wrong with it. Aged for sure, but the brewed in year is indeterminate.Label is quite faded and dating is checked 7, 5. Nose reveals Sumatran coffee, milk chocolate, and hints of light caramel. Perfectly balanced, these scents become flavors in your mouth that waltz across the roof of your mouth. The finish doesn't bitter, just more smooth unburned coffee. You'd behard pressed to find a better coffee double stout. FBS, which I love, is in the backseat here....

Peche Mortel has been one of the more illusive beers for me. A friend who made the trip to Asheville, NC brought this back for me.

Unknowingly, I decanted, er... plopped the beer into the chalice and watched the mousse-like head form to the point that the 12oz. bottle wouldn't fit. As I take the first few sips, the beer never relinquishes the head and leaves multiple rings of lacing behind. The beer is a dark brown-black and opaque as they come. An ideal look.

Very bold aromas of French Roast coffe, nutty-almond-ish scents, as well as cocoa, heavy cream, anise, and a hint of alcohol swirl about the glass. Very appetizing and inviting.

Coffee, cocoa, and roasted malts combine into a well balanced flood of flavor. The beer never favors any one character but the blend of them all give a subtle yet bold balance. Light favors of oats, heavy cream, licorce, and chocolate brownies are a few of the descriptors that make this beer special.

The body is remarkably smooth, silky, and light in comparison to thicker gravity bombs. The coffee bitterness amplifies the grassy-piney hop bitterness and questions whether it is too much for the relatively moderate weight. The beer lightens into a fluid and palatable finish with a linger of coffee and cocoa deep into the aftertaste. Dangerously drinkable for a 9.5%er.

I really appreciate the beer for focusing on the delicacy of flavor instead of the kick-in-the-teeth agression for which more recent Imperial Stouts are acclaimed. Though nothing is wrong with the beer, a more complex fruity character throughout would have made it a solid 5 across the board. Good luck finding a more pleasant drinking experience... with any beer.

Split this among a few friends last night in celebration of the Hockeytown boys winning Lord Stanley's cup.Poured a jet black with a thinner creamy dark tan colored head,aromas obviously had deep dark roast coffee tones mixed with dark fruit and a hint of bitter chocolate.Mas what a silky smooth mouthfeel this is what make a very good beer a great beer no faults to its mouthfeel whatsoever.Flavors are rich but not overly so,smooth dark coffee and dark chocolate like a mocha espresso with a hint of spiced rum in the finish.A fantastic brew to end a fantastic night.

Appearance: Atramentous as a tar pit. Complete in its opacity with a wonderful mocha head. Superb clinging, retention, and lacing.

Aroma: Freshly roasted espresso beans. A touch of cocoa. As a coffee drinker since age two, I cant help but drool over beers like this.

Taste/feel: Like enjoying a richly dense Hagendaaz coffee milk shake with added espresso and cocoa syrup. The intensity of the coffee is mind blowing. Its like they packed Juan Valdezs entire donkey in this one little bomber. I find some tobacco present as well as some burnt dark chocolate but at the end of the day this is a coffee beer through and through.

Drinkability: Perfect. I could sit in a café and drink this from one sunup to the next.

Is it worth it? For me, it is certainly worth the splurge to try it once but in comparison to similar beers from Bells, Alesmith, and Founders it just doesnt hold up for repeated visits because of price and obscurity.

As black as the night is long. Black hole black with a a light, mocha colored head, comprised of very fine and thin bubbles, leaving a clear-cut separation between the brew and the foam. Almost floats up and perches like the type of head you'd expect in a nitro-tap brew. Impressive looking little coffee stout, here... hold the cream and sugar, no doubt.

The aroma is unadulterated, straight up dark, roasted coffee. Italian espresso roast. Burnt ass French roast. Just insanely roasted, oily, dark, nearly burnt and charred coffee beans. Whoa... what's this? There's a very faint, underlying sweetness in the form of creamy vanilla that works to balance the roast. But balance isn't the key, here. The appreciation of fresh coffee beans is, so step back and appreciate, son.

The taste is more of the same. Lovers of all things java will appreciate this brew like crazy. Dark roast, like you've been handed a roasty, black cup o' joe from the promise land itself. A mild creamy and milky undertaking soothes things out for the wimp in all of us - but the roastiness is still a monster here, imparting delicate bitterness and mounds upon mounds of fresh coffee flavor.

A little astringency on the very back end with a subtle touch of deep, depp prune-like sweetness. Wow, I'm loving the ride that this beer is taking me on. The mouth feel is as oily as the beer looks; thick and boisterous, taking no prisoners. Carbonation is but a rolling boil, and it works really well to retain the creamy and smooth characteristic of the beer, matching the flavor profile nicely.

I had always heard about this stuff and wondered if it was really as good as everyone says. Short answer... yes, it is. It's fabulous. If you're a coffee lover and addict, like myself, then you need to treat yourself with this beer. The coffee element is nearly second to none with it's excellent aroma, flavor, and layered characteristics. Definitely one of the top coffee stouts I've had to date.

A: The pour is rather thick, almost black with a fantastic head - Very big, pale brown color, thick and very creamy (almost reminiscent of a nitro-induced head). Very good head retention. The beer looks really great. Might be the best looking imperial stout I've ever had.

T: Very rich and powerful. Strong espresso flavors, freshly ground coffee beans. Big dark chocolate flavors as well making the taste resemble that of café mocha. Some creamy notes. The coffee flavors are backed up by a very firm stout-backbone with a solid sweet maltiness. Some nuts and molasses. The bitterness in the finish is gentle and has a coffee bitterness feel to it. Some warming alcohol in the finish, but other than that the alcohol is very well hidden.

M: Full bodied, soft carbonation, slightly sticky and rather smooth.

D: This is a great beer with a wonderful espresso-like coffee profile. Rich, rather complex, powerful and dense. Even though the coffee flavors take the lead, it still feels very well balanced.

Reviewed on 8/28/10 prior to attending the Traverse City Microbrew Festival. Thanks, TCGoalie for this treat. Split two 11.2 oz. bottles between TCGoalie, BuckyFresh, and myself.

A: I think this is the prettiest stout that I've seen. It pours nearly pitch black with a nice 1 finger, mocha head into my very large snifter. The head was like the top of a carboy as beer is fermenting - tumultuously bubbly. The lacing is splashy and sticky.

S: Big coffee notes at first, backed up by a dark chocolate and alcoholic heat in my nostrils. Some tobacco and leather undertones are also present. This is a big and creamy smelling beer. I am also smelling hazelnut, amaretto, kahlua, and lots of vanilla in Peche Mortel.

T: Right as the beer hits the tip of my tongue, I get a nice cigar smoke character, which is complemented by a lovely biting, acidic coffee flavor throughout the sip. In the middle of each draught, the rich, creamy, and sweet flavors cascade onto the middle of my palate. Then at the end of each sip, that acidic coffee taste reemerges from the background. This is a very earthy taste.

M: There is a lot going on here - a great bite on the sides of my mouth throughout, while the middle of the sip reveal a full, rich, creaminess. Those two feels balance each other wonderfully.

D: This is a very complex beer that I will certainly have again. The heavy bitterness does knock it down just a wee bit for me, though, as I wouldn't want to have too much in a sitting.

Aroma- Earthy, deep carab, chocolate, a hint of acridity gives it an edge, deep and layered, but tight and not jumping out of the glass

Appearance- Thin, dark espresso head leaves no lace.

Taste- Coffee flavor is there, in tandem with a strong dark chocolate character. There is some residual sweetness to this beer, but it is a low base flavor. Doesn't come close to being a milk stout. A little molasses or sourghum flavor begins to hang on the palate in the aftertaste with continued sipping.

Mouthfeel- Very long finish is the only place where alcohol is detectable along with an astringency from the dark malts and maybe coffee. Sounds unpleasant, but kind of dries off the palate for the next sip. I would call this a full bodied beer with a silky mouth feel.

Overall- This is very well-made beer. It is a unique Imperial Stout with a very focused emphasis on a couple of flavors. It is an intense sipping beer that may not be for everyone and would probably be best paired with some kind of dessert or even, dare I say it, tobacco. If you are the kind of person who spends 8 bucks on designer chocolate at the healthfood store, you'll probably love this.